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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Washington State SB 5052

I was trying to find some information about 5052 in Washington state, and I found this over at Leafly.

Cultivation rights:

Previously: 15 plants per medical patient

Under SB 5052: 6 plants per medical patient (unless recommended more by a qualifying physician)

This is going to cause problems. We need growers to be able to grow 15 plants, this was already a compromise from a 60 day supply. The 15 plants was helpful in a patient to patient system.

I I assume they are pushing patients toward 502 stores thinking that patients will not need to grow as much. They are trying to get rid of the system that depends heavily on interaction between patients who are allowed to grow cannabis. Not all who are allowed to grow are able to grow. So if someone is currently growing 15 plants and it is enough for him/herself plus the other patient, that 15 plants is important. You can designate a provider, and now you can grow 30 plants, if the person you designate is a patient. If they reduce that to 6 plants, then when you designate another as a patient, they will only be able to grow 12.

This is going to cause problems. The current system brought us relatively affordable price. Some low-income patients need cannabis to be affordable, it is life or death in some situations.

Possession limits:

Previously: 24 ounces of dried cannabis flower, no specifications for other cannabis products

Under SB 5052: 3 ounces of flower, 48 ounces of cannabis-infused edibles, 21 ounces of liquid, 21 grams of concentrate (or exactly three times the limit allowed for recreational consumers)

Who’s running the show?

Previously: The Washington State Liquor Control Board (retail), no one (medical)

Under SB 5052: The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (renamed to combine medical and retail)

Collective gardens?

Previously: Collective gardens service patients directly with no limit on the number of plants

Under SB 5052: Collective gardens may contain no more than 45
plants (or 15 plants per patient) before requiring a business license to
operate

Requiring some of these current cannabis access points to get licenses could mean they are required to get them through a 502 system that is only issuing a limited number of licenses.